The film surged past low
$35-$50 million expectations to earn $66 million at theaters.
Though it didn't earn more than Disney film "Monsters
University," Pitt's movie is already doing well earning more than
$100 million worldwide.

Vanity Fair reported in a lengthy June feature that filmmakers
tossed out an "expensive 12-minute climactic battle scene" which
ended up ballooning the cost of the film to north of $200
million.

"Lost" and
"Prometheus" writer Damon Lindelof was brought in to review the
film and offered advice on reshooting the last 30-40
minutes.

What didn't
you get to see in theaters?

According to
Vanity Fair (VF), the ending is heavily toned down from a dark,
original all-out zombie action sequence with Pitt slashing past
hordes of the dead that was described as "Rambo versus the
zombies."

The point at
which the film changes is when Pitt hops on a plane in Jerusalem.
The original ending had Pitt traveling to Russia in what sounded
like an extended version of the previous
scene.

From VF:

"The undead lay siege to Moscow's Red Square but are beaten back
by an army of thousands, who, enslaved by the Russians, are
forced to fight in ragtag battalions, lopping off the heads of
the surging zombies with shovel-like weapons called lobos, short
for 'lobotomizers.'"

"The Russian battle set up Brad Pitt as a warrior hero hacking
his way through the bodies of the undead, not as the sympathetic
family man he had portrayed earlier in the filming, fighting the
zombies so he could get home to his family."

"In one scene in the script, Pitt lagged behind a row of older
and sick people who appeared to be a protective shield against
the zombie onslaught, a move some studio executives worried made
the star appear unsympathetic."

VF adds that the importance of the final action scene was to set
up potential "World War Z" sequels.

Since the release of VF's article, Movies.com released an entire blurb on
the original ending claiming to have read the script.

Here's an
excerpt of the action:

"Gerry's unit
is tasked with clearing subway tunnels of zombie hordes. This is
the first time we see the Lobo, a perfected zombie-killing tool
that's sort of a shovel/battle axe that would have been one
of the few things from the book to make it into the movie. Gerry
and his team use them to slice their way through every poor
zombie that tracks them through the tunnels by following their
sounds. It's all routine work for them, and when they're not in
the tunnels killing, they're basically just preparing to go back
in."